The Regressed Empress Tames the Hunting Dog (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7
Kalid was genuinely curious what words would come from those tiny lips of hers.
Perhaps that was why.
Uncharacteristically, he silently waited until she spoke.
Though he had handed her the reins of the conversation, for some reason, every word she uttered pleased him.
Was it because of her words opposing Raoul?
Or perhaps…
“Please give me a reason to reject Prince Raoul’s proposal.”
Was it because of those sparkling violet eyes as she uttered such words?
“So you deliberately chose me, then?”
After all, rejecting a prince’s proposal would require just such a reason.
Assuming she truly knew the location of the gold mine—
She must have kept that valuable information hidden precisely to prevent Raoul from becoming even more interested in her than he already was.
Moreover…
Sending that anonymous letter must have been her way of testing whether the much-gossiped-about Second Prince was truly someone who could aid her.
To think she’d dare test an imperial prince.
‘Hah… Is this absurd, or amusing…?’
He ought to be angry about it.
Yet strangely, all he felt was laughter bubbling up.
Kalid let out a breathy chuckle and slumped carelessly onto the sofa. Bellia, sitting across from him, stared at him intently.
“You’re quick on the uptake, aren’t you?”
Bellia found him pleasing as well.
The Second Prince Kalid, now that she’d actually spoken with him, proved far more helpful than she’d anticipated.
Her resolve to pull him firmly onto her side grew even stronger.
“Of course, I’m not just asking for your help for nothing. As I wrote in my letter, the exact location of the gold mine will be my payment.”
In other words, she was proposing a deal.
Bellia smiled sweetly as she said this.
“Hmph…”
She was utterly confident despite having not a shred of evidence to show.
Even if her claim sounded utterly preposterous, the sheer audacity with which she presented it made him want to accept this ridiculous bargain just to verify her words.
At that thought, Kalid burst out laughing without even realizing it.
Slightly offended by his sudden laughter, Bellia asked,
“Why are you laughing?”
“Oh… It’s just unexpected. Raoul will surely be quite humiliated.”
Bellia once again firmly declared her intention in a resolute voice.
“I absolutely do not wish to marry Prince Raoul.”
Kalid, hearing the unwavering determination in her reply, asked,
“Do you have a plan in mind?”
“Will you enter into a romance with me?”
She answered immediately, as if she’d been waiting for the question.
Kalid didn’t hide his astonishment at such an absurd reply.
“Hah. So Raoul’s unacceptable, but I’m fine? Your tastes are strange. Most would choose Raoul.”
The emperor’s favored son.
The one closest to becoming the next emperor.
No matter how he phrased it, her rejection of Raoul simply made no sense.
“I don’t truly mean a real romance. I just want to pretend we’re in love so he’ll withdraw his proposal to me.”
But both Bellia and Kalid knew this wasn’t all there was to it.
They both understood just how difficult it would be to merely “pretend” to be in love.
“Hah. So you’re staking the location of the gold mine on this. It’s not just scandal—you might end up getting led around by the nose.”
Kalid muttered with a hollow laugh.
They weren’t ordinary nobles whose secret affair could be quietly swept under the rug.
An imperial prince and a kingdom’s princess simply breaking up after a brief romance? They’d inevitably be engulfed in scandal.
“Besides…”
A scandal between the woman the First Prince proposed to and the Second Prince?
For Kalid, who was already infamous for endless rumors, it might just become another piece of gossip trailing him. But for Bellia, who drew the public eye, such a scandal would be devastating.
Certainly, those who envied her would eagerly add vile rumors to inflate the gossip.
“You’ll find it harder to bear than I will. The price of refusing to marry Raoul is quite steep.”
The famously beautiful Princess Bellia of Ronica Kingdom, the subject of countless rumors.
In person, Bellia was even more stunning than the rumors claimed.
Silver hair tinged with faint blue, violet eyes,
a delicate, slender figure, and that uniquely melancholic aura that made one want to protect her.
Though Kalid had never cared for beauty, upon first meeting Bellia, he had to admit she truly lived up to her reputation.
That such a renowned figure would reject Raoul, the First Prince, and instead choose him—the notoriously reckless, ill-mannered prince with a terrible reputation—for a romance?
“One wrong move, and it won’t just be pretending to date—you might end up marrying me for real.”
Kalid issued a warning,
as if to remind her just how ridiculous her choice was.
But Bellia clenched her teeth as if it didn’t matter and declared,
“I’d rather marry you than Prince Raoul.”
Kalid watched her shudder as if the very thought were horrifying, his gaze turning slightly curious before he fell silent, lost in thought.
“Thus, Your Highness’s willingness matters more than mine. As you yourself said, things might go so far that I truly end up marrying you.”
At Bellia’s words, Kalid gave a soft chuckle and asked,
“What you truly want is for Raoul to withdraw his proposal to the princess, correct?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“And?”
His gaze sharpened, as if trying to dig out a hidden truth.
“It can’t possibly be all. Tell me your real intention—the one you’re hiding.”
Bellia had to secure Kalid.
There was no one else who fit her needs so perfectly.
If there had been three or so more princes, she might have sought another—but right now, only Kalid could rival Raoul on equal footing.
However…
“We haven’t yet built a relationship of trust, have we? Do you acknowledge that?”
Kalid nodded.
“Then it’s difficult for me to reveal everything.”
If she spoke her true thoughts and Kalid changed his mind…
“If this deal proceeds smoothly, perhaps we can speak again afterward.”
For now, Bellia decided to leave some room.
“…Hey, Princess.”
Kalid slowly opened his mouth.
“Truthfully, accepting your proposal brings me no benefit whatsoever.”
He already knew the site currently under investigation by the survey team held no gold mine. Moreover…
“How can I be certain the princess knows the location of a gold mine that even the survey team couldn’t find? Right now, your offer—completely unsubstantiated—holds no appeal for me.”
Not a single word Bellia had spoken seemed trustworthy.
“I came expecting an interesting conversation. If this is truly all, I’ll be disappointed.”
“If Your Highness discovers the gold mine before His Highness Raoul, your standing within the empire will rise greatly. And in exchange for causing a minor scandal to prevent my marriage to the First Prince, it seems like a rather favorable proposal for you—doesn’t it?”
Bellia began explaining the advantages he’d gain from their contractual romance.
“You’d not only block his marriage to the Princess of Ronica—who might greatly empower him—but also gain a romance with the very woman who rejected him.”
This meant she was giving him free rein to use everything—her name, her reputation, every rumor about her—as he pleased.
At that, Kalid’s eyes gleamed again with amusement.
“Even if things go awry and you and I end up marrying, it wouldn’t be a loss for Your Highness. Royal marriages are mostly political anyway, and having the Princess of Ronica as your bride would actually be quite advantageous. Ah—do you perhaps have a lover already? If so…”
“I don’t.”
“Then there’s no issue.”
Bellia gave a slight nod.
Then she pulled the corners of her mouth into a bright, cheerful smile.
“Hmm. Is there anything else you’d like?”
“…Honestly, this is unbelievable.”
No one else would dare speak this way to an imperial prince.
“You probably would’ve thought so.”
The more he considered it, the more absurd it became.
Right after he said the gold mine’s location offered him little gain, she proposed a deal staking not only her public image and name—but possibly even her future.
“That the one saying this is none other than the Princess of Ronica Kingdom, whom Raoul is desperately pursuing.”
Others were practically frantic to become his consort,
yet she chose him… just to reject that offer.
Was she truly a princess who couldn’t calculate properly?
Yet looking at her bright, sparkling eyes nodding along to his words, she didn’t seem foolish at all.
Kalid stared straight at Bellia, not even trying to hide his entertained expression.
“…Did you say romance?”
“Marriage would be even better.”
“How bold.”
Kalid said this with an extremely dangerous smile.
“If I weren’t this bold, I couldn’t possibly get what I want.”
Bellia shot back without yielding.
Kalid crossed his legs arrogantly and gave a sly smirk.
“Honestly, taking the princess as my consort is an extremely tempting prospect for me. Among all possible marriage candidates I could choose, none would be better than you.”
Bellia’s symbolic value was immense enough for him to fully understand why Raoul pursued her so diligently.
“And as a bonus, I get to watch Raoul fall apart. Nothing could be more entertaining.”
Kalid leaned forward, closing the distance between them.
“Well then… Shall I marry you, as the princess wishes? Hmm?”
He sneered at Bellia as if he were the villain of the story,
as if convinced she’d never actually choose him.
“But you’d better think carefully. Once you regret it later, there’ll be no going back.”
At his low, final warning, Bellia instead crinkled her eyes shut and broke into a wide, beaming smile.
‘…Maybe he’s right.’
Clozé’s words suddenly surfaced in her mind.
She’d dismissed them as a joke back then, but now she wondered—perhaps they were true after all.
Despite clearly calculating that he stood to gain far more, he kept issuing warnings.
‘Could he be kinder than I thought…?’
A truly wicked person would have sweet-talked her into choosing him.
But he was telling Bellia not to make a decision she’d regret, even offering her a chance not to choose him.
Bellia met his gaze squarely and spoke.
“Let’s get married.”
Her words made Kalid’s eyes widen in surprise—more so than she had.
But soon, his expression turned even more amused as he grinned.
“With this marriage, we’ll each get what we want. There’s no reason to object.”
“Won’t you regret it?”
“Of course not.”
Bellia’s reply held no hesitation.
“I look forward to working with you, Your Highness Prince Kalid.”
Kalid frowned slightly at her words, then spoke with a hint of displeasure.
“Then I’d prefer you stop calling me ‘Your Highness.’ From this moment on, we’re lovers.”
“…Lovers?”
It was an unfamiliar word.
Speaking it aloud felt even more awkward.
Each syllable of the word prickled strangely on her tongue.
“If we’re going to act, we might as well make the performance perfect.”
In truth, Kalid disliked unpredictable matters.
He preferred to control every plan meticulously.
Yet Bellia, who had leapt unpredictably into the sphere of his life, strangely pleased him.
“Alright. Then our contract is sealed.”
Bellia extended her hand to shake his.
It was a mutually beneficial deal.
Bellia had secured the sword she needed, and Kalid had gained a rather excellent marriage prospect.
“The next time I visit the royal palace, I expect you to welcome me as if I’m the only one in the world for you.”
Kalid took Bellia’s hand.
Then, with a lazy smile, he softly called her name.
“Bellia.”
The way her name rolled off his tongue
was unbearably sweet—far more than it had any right to be.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
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Chapter Comments (3)
Inline Comments (10)
Soon after, Kalid pressed his lips against Bellia’s.
Why the chapter stop here i want mooooore😭
Clozé spoke from the sofa, sprawled out in a thoroughly undignified manner.
I really like Clozé she’s a great supporting character and a good entertaining sister.
Clozé grumbled to herself.
Poor clozé her sister will go on another country to mary she will be allone
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Difficult but she needs to realize her revenge could take quite some time, years possibly. It’s understandable that her emotions have nowhere to go right now, but she needs temperance.
It’s nice to find a ML that has emotional awareness like Kalid does.
This emperor is such a greedy man. If he weren’t so detestable I’d have second-hand embarrassment.